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Mustard Cabbage

A pickled vegetable mixture of cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, cauliflower, beans, peppers, seasoned with mustard, turmeric, sugar, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 20 ingredients
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Why it works: Tomato and beans match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,713 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mustard Cabbage

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the vegetables

  1. Sprinkle 1 cup salt over 1 gallon chopped cabbage and half a dozen large onions chopped.

  2. Let stand overnight.

  3. In the morning, drain, put in a kettle with enough weak vinegar to cover, and let simmer 1 hour.

  4. Drain off the first weak vinegar and pour this mixture over the pickle.

  5. Cut up 1 quart large cucumbers, 1 quart green tomatoes, and 1 large cauliflower.

  6. Add 1 quart small onions, 1 quart small cucumbers, 1 quart string beans broken up, and 6 green peppers, seeded and cut up.

  7. Cover with salt water for 24 hours, then scald in the same water, and drain.

Make the mustard sauce

  1. Take enough strong vinegar to saturate this quantity, add 1 pound brown sugar, heating it but not boiling.

  2. When scalding hot, add 1 pound white mustard seed, 1 pound ground mustard, 2 ounces celery seed, 1 red pepper chopped fine, 1 teaspoon ground pepper, 1 ounce turmeric; stir well together.

  3. Make a paste: 1 tablespoon Coleman's mustard, 1 tablespoon turmeric, 2 cups sugar, and 1 cup flour, mixed slowly with 1 pint vinegar and 1 pint boiling water to a smooth paste.

  4. Let boil until a little thick, add the pickles and let boil a few minutes.

  5. Pack away in closely covered jars.

  6. Mix 1 pound each of mustard and flour in a bowl with 5 cents worth of turmeric, 2 cups sugar, and enough vinegar to moisten them.

  7. Boil the remainder of 1 gallon vinegar, and stir in the contents of the bowl.

Pack and serve

  1. Prepare onions, cucumbers, cauliflower, and green beans, breaking up the cauliflower.

  2. Sprinkle salt over them separately, and let stand overnight.

  3. In the morning, rinse and drain, pack in jars well mixed, and pour over them the mustard mixture when it comes to a boil.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

227Calories
8 gProtein
2 gFat
49 gCarbs

Counts 12 of 15 ingredients. The other 3 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 12 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Broccoli1 cup chopped (156g)55
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Cucumber1/2 cup sliced (52g)16
Turmeric1 tsp ground (3g)9
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Celery Seed1 stalk (40g)6
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Mustard1 tsp (5g) yellow3
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Beannot in our table0
Lingnot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Tomato + beanstop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,713 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Celery + mustardtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,169 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Turmeric + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,279 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Cucumber + mustardtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,281 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Cucumber + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,405 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cucumbers
Their firm flesh keeps its crunch through the long brine and hot vinegar.
Vinegar
Acid preserves the pickles and sharpens the flavour of the mustard sauce.
Mustard seed
Provides the pungent, sharp flavour that defines the sauce.
Flour (in the method)
Thickens the mustard sauce into a smooth, spoonable consistency.
Turmeric
Gives the sauce its characteristic yellow colour and earthy aroma.
Sugar
Balances the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard with sweetness.

The step that matters

Mixing the paste into the boiling sauce. Flour mixed with cold or only lukewarm liquid forms lumps, and it must be stirred smoothly into the paste before boiling so it thickens evenly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, pepper, turmeric, cucumber, tomato, beans, mustard):

  1. Lettucefits better
  2. Cauliflowerfits better
  3. Broccolifits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, pepper, turmeric, cucumber, tomato, beans, mustard. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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